


Mirror Picture

by Dominatrix



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-12 10:42:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/810675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dominatrix/pseuds/Dominatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While having a conversation with John Harrison, Spock recognizes similarities he would have never expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror Picture

It was already late at night when Spock paced through the corridor. He couldn't sleep. Not since he had a fight with Nyota. And especially not since John Harrison - or Khan, how he seemed to be called - was on the ship. It caused Spock a unpleasant feeling of helplessness to know that this man was superior to him in so many ways. He had seen how he had defeated a patrouille of Klingons almost all by himself. The picture of how he broke Nyota's neck with a playful movement, how he smashed Jim against a wall with one hand and with such a force that all bones in his body were shattering made him wake up at night with a horrible taste in his mouth.

The logical consequence of this would be to back off this Khan as far as possible. However, due to an unknown reason Khan seemed to attract him. Just as a moth was attracted by light, McCoy would probably say. His metaphors were old, but still matching.

Spock didn't have to see if anyone followed him. He was as quiet as a shadow, and except his calm breath and the consistent humming of the machines no sound was audible on the Enterprise. The whole crew was probably sleeping. He had left Nyota in his cabin, she was sleeping tight withtout knowing what hunted Spock at night when he pulled her close to his body to ensure himself that she was still there. The days were so exhausting that the nights on the ship were quieter than ever before.  
Khan saw him coming, Spock could feel it instinctively. He felt the restless glance of the cool blue eyes on his body, they followed every single of his movements. However he pretended not to notice Spock until he was standing right in front of the glass cell.

"What do you want?" His voice was just as dark as the galaxy the Enterprise was moving through right now.  
"Explain to me why you attacked the star fleet."  
"It wouldn't make sense. You would not understand. No one of your crew has up to now."  
"Maybe I am...different." Khan's gaze immediately shot up to Spock's face when he said this, and before he put on his mask again, surprise - and yes maybe even the hint of hope - shone on his expression.  
"Really?"  
"I understand your situation. You're alone. Lost."

Khan snorted, but Spock could see the trace of hesitation in his eyes. He wasn't really good in displaying his own emotions so they were understandable for humans, but he was a master in reading feelings and thoughts out of body language.

"All the others have no idea how it actually feels to be all on his own, the only one of a kind. But you do. The child of two world. Half Vulcan, half Human. You know the pain. And the grief. The guilt. Or don't you?"

Spock swallowed and felt how the dryness in his mouth expanded. Khan had approached him while he spoke. Right now he stood directly behind the adamant glass which seperated him from freedom. The glass steamed up with every breath of him before it cleared again.

"I watched how my home was destroyed. I was a witness of the near extinction of my people." For a moment Spock hesitated before he added something. "I have watched my mother die." He made in effort into saying it as matter-of-fact as possible, because the last thing he wanted was that Khan explored a weakness he might use to his advantage.

"Maybe we are more alike than you would like to admit."

Spock cringed because of Khan's words. He squared his shoulders and rose his gaze from the floor to focus it at Khan's face. They were now opposite each other, and only the glass seperated them. Spock couldn't prevent that his mind noticed the obvious similarities, even if he refused to see them. A part of him acknowledged Khan as a mirror picture, as a Spock he could have been if he had made some different decisions. It was no nice thought, but he knew that Khan deserved an answer. And as a Vulcan he wasn't able to lie.

"Maybe we really are."

A cold smile appeared on Khan's face. He would have fooled everybody else. But not Spock. Spock looked behind the wall of cruelty and bitterness. It was hard to explain, but he felt a kind of sympathy for this murderer. And he was totally aware that Khan could recognize this feeling in Spock's gaze.

Without a single word, without daring to look at Khan again, Spock spun around and stormed through the corridor that led him away from Khan's prison.


End file.
